Virgin Media has named the next 30 rural communities which will gain access to its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

The areas are expected to be connectable via full fibre by spring 2017 and is the next stage of Virgin Media's Supercharging Local Communities initiative, part of its £3bn Project Lightning network.

It's aiming to bring 300 mega-bits-per-second broadband to small businesses located outside major towns and cities. Virgin Media's FTTP footprint is expected to increase from 12.9m premises to 17m by the end of 2019.